All candidates running for contested seats in the upcoming election were invited to submit a post in support of their candidacy to Village14. This is Debra Waller’s.
My name is Debra Waller and I am running for the office of Ward 5 City Councilor.
I’ve lived in Newton with my husband and two children for 27 years. Newton is a wonderful place to raise a family and we have much to be thankful for. Newton voters, however, are often voting on important issues without being fully informed – because many of the processes at City Hall lack basic transparency. This has given rise to a deep political division in Newton.
My 32-year career in mechanical engineering and in financial market risk has given me the ability to acquire and present facts and data in an accessible and complete manner to all stakeholders. My pledge, if elected to the City Council, is to inform and be informed by residents as directly and simply as possible – so that the resident stakeholders of Newton can make the best decisions for our city, and I can help to execute those decisions.
My three primary issues are the rezoning, police reform, and public process integrity. To read more about my positions in detail, visit my website WallerForNewton.org. Please vote for me on November 2nd to be your Ward 5 City Councilor.
When she says one of her primary issues is police reform, she should specify that she’s against it, as she makes clear on her website and in the Area Council debate. She’s sort of burying the lede here.
Ms. Waller:
A few questions. These are copy/pasted from your post on FB, which you never responded to. Hopefully you will take the time to respond in this forum.
Your first claim on your page is that Mayor Fuller’s staff “abruptly rewrote Newton’s entire zoning ordinance legislation” but it’s pretty clear that the Zoning Redesign predates Mayor Fuller’s tenure. Also, your own page admits that “The City Councilors on the Zoning and Planning Committee (ZAP) have had to sit through 1,100+ PowerPoint slides and Newton residents have been subjected to countless “engagement” activities” – so which is it? Was it an “abrupt rewrite?” Or have City Councilors and residents had years and “countless activities” to see what the zoning redesign is all about?
This link shows that Zoning Redesign started in 2010: https://www.newtonma.gov/government/planning/zoning-redesign/process
In the Police section of your site you said you want to “depoliticize” the police. Are you then willing to say that police unions should not endorse political candidates? Should candidates not talk about the police department? Given that the police department has some civilian oversight, and those people are elected, how are candidates supposed to speak about any potential changes they wish to promote?
Newton’s police department profiled a black member of our community. I’m not sure why it’s “politicizing” to bring this up and demand better from our public servants. Especially when you said that the NPD should receive “praise” for their job. You don’t think it’s possible to both praise the Newton PD for doing their job in helping apprehend a suspect – *and* to call out blatant racism and profiling? Why are those two mutually exclusive?
Also, you are promoting “Weapon Drawn / Cameras On Policy – If at least one officer draws their weapon in an encounter, then all the officers present must turn on their body cameras.” – so you’re asking officers, in the middle of a potential life-or-death situation, to pause, turn on their cameras, and then look back up? All while holding their weapons? They should just look away from the situation at hand to activate cameras? Why not just require body cameras on all the time? If the police are so valiant and beyond reproach, then surely there shouldn’t be a problem with this.
I look forward to your responses.
“On November 7th, 2017, Newton Voters rejected a charter commission proposal to move to a 100% at-large city council.”
… and thank goodness!!
The Ward Councilor is the MOST intimate and accessible form of government. It’s the person that will look out for its constiuents MOST, and with that as the primary criteria, I happily voted for Deb yesterday. The environment, social equity and justice, housing crisis – these are all important issues, but in a Ward Councilor, I want to know who is listenting, working and looking out for my family’s best interest. Couple of examples of why I voted for Deb.
1. I have friends and neighbors who are casual at best – apathetic at worse – when it comes to local politics, but a number of them shared with me how impressed they were with the level of depth, knowledge and preparedness Deb was on the potential parking issues related to rezoning as presented at her booth on the Upper Falls Village Day. Whether you agree with her point of view or not, what’s indisputable is intellect, work and passion she put into this topic. If this is just one example of she would do as our Ward Councilor for Ward 5, imagine what she would do if elected?
2. Many of us in Upper Falls are expectedly concerned about rats, especially now that excavation has begun on the Northland. Last week, fear became a reality and hit home (literally) when we captured a rat (attacking a chipmunk!) right beside our front steps on video. I sent the video in an email to Mayor Fuller and the full City Council. To Mayor Fuller’s credit, she replied immediately (sorry, but I still voted for Amy but her prompt response was much appreciated!) and had a nice, educational, and re-assuring visit from Josh Morse our Building Commissioner. You know who did not reply? Our Ward Councilor. Not a peep. You know who asked how we were doing with the rat situation? Deb Waller.
Ward 5 please consider voting for Deb Waller. She will listen and work her butt off for you!
@Matt – I disagree about this candidate but we are in agreement about an entirely at-large city council. I think if that had passed, we would have seen something like this:
https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/05/29/lowell-voting-rights-lawsuit-at-large-system
Matt, I replied you at great length on Facebook about your rat issue, just as I have replied to virtually all of your many emails and communications over the past two years.
Looks like we could potentially have two women engineers on our City Council. As someone who was at MIT in the late 1970s when our class was 17% female (and that was considered high), I find it so exciting that this is even a possibility!
@Meredith Warshaw,
My Mom grew up in Newton- Educated at Sacred Heart through 12th grade and first woman to turn down the Archdiocese of Boston full 4 year scholarship to Regis after being accepted as 1 of 3 women in the U Mass civil engineering program. All three women failed first year mechanical drawing and were told to transfer to another major while men in the program got a second chance. Mom had 4.0 in all other classes. Her other talent… politics. Go engineers!!